Category: Advanced planning

May event: Building Community: Accessing Resources at the End of Life

The MTN Twin Cities May event will take place on Tuesday, May 12, 2020, 7 – 9 p.m. See the end of this email for details on accessing the meeting.
This session is designed for people who may not feel that they have enough social or personal support to have the kind of end-of-life experience and an intimate home vigil to honor their life, in the way they may want.
There will be two sections to the evening. First how to begin to think about the support you already have. but not fully recognized. The second half will help you learn about resources and volunteers that are available through MN Threshold Network.
Also appropriate for individuals and people who represent social services that work with folks who many find themselves in this situation such a people living in halfway houses, programs, independent elderly with little family, people who feel outside familial social supports, network of friends that function like family, etc. Come join us on-line for the evening’s program.
Join with Google Meet: meet.google.com/ish-xonv-yoj
Join by phone: ‪+1 260-623-4302‬ PIN: ‪648 638 121‬#

June 18, 2019 Natural Burial Evening

Tuesday June 18, 2019, 6:30-8:30 pm, MTN members Anne Archbold and Marilaurice Hemlock of Final Blessings will lead a mock natural burial “graveside” event. Dan Kantar, cemetery manager, will discuss Mound’s natural burial options.
Mound Cemetery, 3515 69th Ave N, Brooklyn Center, MN.  
Please bring lawn chairs or blankets to sit on. 
MTN meetings are free and open to all, but donations are gratefully accepted.

Death Pioneer Bruce Wilson Video

MTN founding member Linda Bergh alerted us to this wonderful short video by Death with Dignity advocate and hospice physician Bruce Wilson, who is facing his own death from pancreatic cancer.

https://www.jsonline.com/videos/news/columnists/better-angels/2018/01/22/video-hospice-doctor-bruce-wilson-explains-his-own-impending-death/109603376/

Bruce Wilson
Still frame from Bruce Wilson’s video. Via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

March Meeting: Preparing for Death with New PSAS Chart

March 10, 2015, 7-9 p.m., at the home of Nancy Manahan and Becky Bohan, 21 East Rustic Lodge Ave, Minneapolis

Nancy & Diane, a month before Diane's death. Photo by Becky.

A helpful new tool, the Personal Self-Assessment Scale (PSAS), will be available at the meeting. This simple one-page chart can 1) clarify your wishes, 2) guide your choice of a health care agent (not necessarily your spouse or child), and 3) provide an easy opening for The Conversation with loved ones. It also can help you be more prepared and competent when someone you love is dying.

Although we can fill out an advanced directive by ourselves, MTN members find that working in community allows us to hear other points of view and find more clarity for our own questions.

A free Personal Self-Assessment Scale, created by emergency room physician Monica Williams-Murphy, M.D., author of It’s Ok to Die, is available at the It’s OK to Die website.

For short videos of people making end-of-life decisions and having thoughtful conversations with their loved ones, visit Honoring Choices Minnesota.

Upcoming Event: Ars Moriendi : Day of Reflection on the Art of Dying Well

Ars Moriendi : Day of Reflection on the Art of Dying Well
Saturday, January 11th, 2014.  8 AM- 3 PM
St. Joseph the Worker
7180 Hemlock Ln N, Maple Grove, MN 55369
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
COST:  $20 for day,includes lunch
Contact Bonnie Steele at 763-400-7209 or bsteele@sjtw.net with questions or to register!
Workshops will include: exploring end of life medical interventions, caring for your loved one after death, home visitations, natural burials & cremation, palliative care, financial planning, how to choose a health care agent, creating an ethical will, and hospice care.
MTN members Carolyn Laine and Linda Bergh will be presenting a workshop on Home Funerals and Green Burials.

You are invited to come and learn about how to plan for your loved or for yourself!

End-of-Life University speaker series

eolu
End-of-Life University is a new organization founded by Karen Wyatt, M.D., author of What Really Matters, Seven Lessons for Living from the Dying.
End-of-Life University is hosting a speaker series Nov. 11-14.  Speakers include Ira Byock, MD, on “Options for Best Possible End-of-Life Care,” Marilyn Schlitz, PhD on “Death Makes Life Possible: Transforming the End-of-Life,” and Merilynne Rush, RN, on “Options After Death: Home Funerals and Natural Burials.” Merilynne’s talk is Nov. 13 in the afternoon.
Information about all the speakers and the schedule is at http://www.eoluniversity.com/speakers. It’s easy to register and the whole series is free! If you are unable to participate, the entire series can be purchased as mp3 files for $36. Karen says that hospices will use these mp3 files for their volunteer education programs, and she would like to make them widely available.